OLEACEZ—OLIVE FAMILY 
WHITE ASH 
Frdxinus americana. 
A graceful tree, sometimes one hundred feet in height but usually 
seventy or eighty, with straight trunk three feet or more in diameter 
at the base. When growing alone it produces a round-topped or a 
pyramidal head of great beauty. It is distributed from Nova Scotia 
and Minnesota to Florida and Texas, but attains its greatest size on 
the bottom lands of the lower Ohio valley. Grows rapidly, prefers 
rich moist soil and is recommended for city planting in the eastern 
states. 
Bark.—Gray, deeply furrowed into narrow flattened ridges, sur- 
face scaly. Branchlets stout, terete, at first slightly hairy, dark 
green, later become pale orange or ashy gray. 
Wood.—Brown, sapwood paler brown; heavy, tough, elastic, close- 
grained. Used in manufacture of furniture, carriages, agricultural 
implements, oars. Sp. gr., 0.6543; weight of cu. ft., 40.77 lbs. 
Winter Buds.—Brown, nearly black, ovate, obtuse at apex. Ter- 
minal buds large, lateral buds smaller. Outer scales fall when spring 
rrowth begins, inner scales enlarge and become green. 
Leaves.—Opposite, pinnately compound, eight to twelve inches 
long. Leaflets five to nine; three to five inches long, one to two 
broad, petiolate, ovate or oblong-lanceolate, unequally wedge-shaped 
or rounded at base, entire, or obscurely serrate, acuminate or acute. 
They come out of the bud conduplicate, thin, smooth or slightly 
hairy; when full grown are smooth, dark green, often shining above, 
pale, sometimes silvery beneath, often hairy along the veins. Feather- 
veined, midrib compressed above, primary veins conspicuous. In 
autumn they turn brownish purple fading into yellow. Petioles 
stout, smooth, grooved, swollen at the base. Petiolules about one: 
fourth of an inch long. 
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